Rating: 3 cows
The Buggy Whip has been on our list of steakhouses to try for a while and we thought it would be a great place to start to our new year of reviewing steakhouses. The Buggy Whip is a steakhouse from an earlier decade, featuring dark decor, red booths and in their main dining room paired with a live piano player (Wed-Sat). As you enter the Buggy Whip you are greeted with several framed magazine articles listing the Buggy Whip as one of the top 10 steakhouse in Los Angeles. Obviously, we saw this as a good sign and we anxiously awaited our steak dinners.
Our visit to the Buggy Whip was on a Sunday night which sadly meant no piano player and also that half of the restaurant was closed. We were sat in the main dining room at a long table pulled up against a half moon both to fit our party of 11. As we ordered drinks we discovered the bar was very much a “no thrills” type of bar. The bartender was not familiar with their wines and in addition nothing was available on draft. The drinks that we did order, however, were priced very well as we soon found out was a trend for the entire menu.
Together. we ordered a variety of steaks including porterhouses, rib-eyes and filets. Each steak came with either a house salad or a cup of their clam chowder in addition to a potato side. Most of our group chose the house salad which arrived with an odd green “Greek Goddess” dressing. Despite the color of the dressing the salad was good but nothing spectacular. Those that received the clam chowder found it oddly spicy and left them expecting much more in their clam chowder. Despite having a large group our steaks all arrived around the same time. The steaks looked delicious and each person paired their steak with a large baked potato topped table side with your choice of butter, sour cream or chives. Upon cutting open our steaks we found that all of our steaks were not cooked evenly. All steaks were ordered medium-rare but only some portions were the desired medium-rare. The rest of the steak was over cooked to medium. In particular, the porterhouse suffered the most while the rib-eye was probably the most evenly cooked of all the steaks.
The resounding verdict of the steaks was that they were good but nothing spectacular. The steaks were seasoned with salt and pepper but despite the potential, none of that seasoning penetrated the surface of the steak. Only the rib-eye was served with a side of an onion based gravy, which was never used as to not spoil the steak. Despite the size of the steaks listed on the menus (22oz Rib-eye, 28oz Porterhouse) everyone managed to finish their steaks without a problem. As par for the course, we even ordered several deserts which like the steaks were found to be appetizing but not anything special.
In the end we gave the Buggy Whip an average rating of 3 cows with the high votes coming in on the rib-eye and the lower votes coming in with the filet. It is worth noting that the special of the night was two 1.25lb lobster tails for $40, and that the menu of the Buggy Whip offers a lot of different seafood selections. Some of our guests who dined with us ordered fish for their dinner and found it very delicious. This leaves us to believe that perhaps the Buggy Whip is no longer destined to be a great steakhouse in Los Angeles but instead more of a seafood focused restaurant. Perhaps sometime when we are not on a quest for steak, we may stop by the Buggy Whip to taste their seafood.
Note:
As of September 2013, the Buggy Whip has closed its doors after 64 years in business. Although the steaks did not live up to today's top quality steakhouses, it's always sad to lose an historical icon. Rest in peace, ye olde buggy.